Lorentz skew scattering and giant nonreciprocal magneto-transport

Despite extensive research, the primary mechanism governing nonlinear (nonreciprocal) magneto-transport in clean samples remains unknown. This theoretical gap has impeded the development of design principles for efficient nonreciprocal devices. Here, we unveil a hitherto unexplored effect in nonreciprocal magneto-transport from cooperative action of Lorentz force and skew scattering. The significance of this Lorentz skew scattering mechanism lies in that it dominates both longitudinal and transverse responses in highly conductive systems, and it exhibits a scaling behavior distinct from all known mechanisms. At low temperature, it shows a cubic scaling in linear conductivity, whereas the scaling becomes quartic at elevated temperature when phonon scattering kicks in. Applying our developed microscopic theory to surface transport in topological crystalline insulator SnTe and bulk transport in Weyl semimetals leads to significant results, suggesting a new route to achieve giant transport nonreciprocity in high-mobility materials with topological band features.